Bloomfield man charged in Newark hit-and-run that killed 17-year-old girl
Prosecutors say 26-year-old Erik Montesinos was speeding when he struck Zakiyah Dansby near Bloomfield and Mount Prospect avenues.
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A Bloomfield man has been charged in the hit-and-run crash that killed a 17-year-old girl in Newark last weekend, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office announced.
Erik Montesinos, 26, is charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death and endangering an injured victim.
Prosecutors say surveillance video shows Montesinos driving a gray sedan at a high rate of speed around 8:50 p.m. on Aug. 9 when he struck Zakiyah Dansby, of Newark, near Bloomfield and Mount Prospect avenues.
An unmarked Newark police Ford Explorer was going west on Bloomfield Avenue when Montesinos’ sedan passed in the opposite direction at a high speed, according to prosecutors. Officials say the officer made a U-turn, and Montesinos struck Dansby shortly afterward.
The officer stopped to render aid and notified police. Dansby was pronounced dead at the scene and Montesinos fled, prosecutors said.
Later that evening, Montesinos contacted Newark police and said he had been involved in a crash. He then turned himself in at the department’s Second Precinct.
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office Fatal Police Encounter Unit responded to investigate whether Dansby’s death occurred during an encounter with law enforcement, as required by law.
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